When you had requested me 10 years in the past if I loved a river cruise, my reply would have been a tough no. However a decade later, river cruises have come a good distance, child! We lately boarded the Avalon Alegria in Porto, Portugal, for a cruise into the Douro Valley. This European River cruise felt extra just like the small ship expeditions we’ve taken up to now than the outdated normal river cruises that stopped at packed ports and spent extra time on the bus than exploring the vacation spot.
What’s it Like on a Douro Valley River Cruise
We boarded our all-suites ship in Porto, the place we started our journey into the gorgeous hills of the Douro Valley. The Avalon Alegria was designed to make the most of probably the most house whereas creating the last word stress-free and splendid expertise.
The Ship – Avalon Alegria
The Avalon Alegria is the most recent of Avalon’s ships. It’s an all-suites ship with 14 deluxe staterooms or 37 Panorama Suites. We toured all the rooms, and irrespective of which room you select, you’ll be comfortable. All rooms characteristic floor-to-ceiling home windows that open to show your room into one large balcony, and all beds face the water.
Onboard facilities embrace a bar and dance ground, nightly leisure, a eating room, a membership lounge, and a health club. The Sky Deck has a swimming pool, outside grill and bar, and loads of lounge chairs and tables. If the climate is sweet, that is the place to be to absorb the beautiful vistas of the Douro Valley.
Avalon Alegria Suites
Let’s start with the suites. With a most capability of 102 folks, each room is spacious and splendid. We stayed in one of many fourteen 200-square-foot panorama suites, which was excellent for our journey.
Whereas different cruise strains we’ve taken line their beds up towards a wall with a view of the opposite wall, the Avalon Alegria ship units every mattress going through the floor-to-ceiling home windows for views of the river. We loved afternoon siestas in our room whereas watching the Douro River views go by.
However that’s not all. Most individuals desire a balcony when river cruising, however it’s troublesome to offer everybody one as a result of measurement limitations of the river and the locks. Avalon has fastened this drawback by creating floor-to-ceiling home windows that open large, reworking your suite into an open-air balcony. By taking away the outside balcony, they’ve created 30% extra residing house.
We loved breakfast in our room every morning with our home windows open to see the hills of the Douro River. With plush robes, slippers, and gorgeous views, we by no means wished to depart our room! Oh and did I let you know that they not solely have a pillow menu, but in addition a mattress menu? There are 4 completely different settings for the mattress. Simply let the crew know the way you want your mattress, they usually’ll set it up for you.
Membership Lounge
Subsequent to our room, the Membership Lounge was our second favourite house on the Avalon Alegria. Earlier than breakfast, we walked to the lounge in our robes and slippers to seize a cappuccino, freshly baked cookies, and vitamin water.
I liked filling my refillable water bottle with my alternative of water for the day. Wouldn’t it be Vitamin B water? Glowing grapefruit or ginger. The alternatives had been superior.
Usually, cruise ships reserve this house for upgraded suites, however Avalon makes this coveted house on the stern of the boat open for everybody. You possibly can sit again and loosen up, have tea, or ship an e-mail on the quick Star Hyperlink Wi-Fi that’s included within the journey.
Avalon, the Greenest Ship on the Douro
We all know the rap cruise ships get, however Avalon works laborious to journey sustainably. Avalon has partnered with locations to generate sustainable electrical energy whereas docked. They use shore energy at any time when they’ll and have put in LED lighting all through their ships.
You’ll discover that I discussed a water station above and Avalon has zero plastic onboard. There are glasses that you could refill, however we advocate packing your individual water bottle to tackle excursions. We weren’t provided bottled water on our excursions (which I used to be grateful for), so we crammed up our bottles earlier than leaving the ship.
They’ve diminished paper by 80%. Not like different cruise ships, you received’t see your each day schedule and a great deal of paper in your beds. Avalon has an app for company to make use of with schedules on the TVs.
They’ve additionally partnered with The Ocean Cleanup to assist of their mission of eradicating 90% of ocean plastic. It is a daunting process, and I do not know the way it will occur, however with corporations investing and partnering, good issues can occur.
Actually, in in the present day’s world, we’re all contributing to the destruction of the planet, so the one factor corporations can do is give again. Avalon crops two timber for each passenger on a cruise, has state-of-the-art oil filters to maintain oil modifications to a minimal, and is seeking to swap to electrical ships within the close to future.
What’s Included – Avalon is About Selection
Since we talked about premium coffees and free web, I assumed we’d contact on what’s included in your Douro River Cruise with Avalon Waterways. The phrase we stored listening to was the Avalon is about alternative. Passengers have flexibility relating to eating, excursions, and issues to do onboard.
Meals
All meals, together with breakfast, lunch, and dinner, are included. Breakfast may be loved in your stateroom or within the eating room. Lunch is a buffet within the eating room or mild snacks within the bar. You may as well all the time order sure meals, like burgers and sandwiches, off the menu.
Dinner is a scrumptious multicourse meal of native and worldwide dishes paired with advantageous native wine. Portugal has implausible wines, and I like that Avalon serves solely native wines. When I’m in Portugal, I don’t wish to be consuming a California Chardonnay; I desire a wealthy Douro Valley crimson, and that’s precisely what they delivered.
Not like different cruises, passengers are provided flex eating and may eat anytime inside the eating window. Seating is versatile, with tables for 2, or you may be part of massive teams.
Drinks
Talking of wine, beer and wine are included at lunch and dinner. All specialty coffees, gentle drinks, and water are additionally included. And, not like different cruises, the Douro Valley River cruise provides free cocktail hour drinks. And let me let you know, they make scrumptious cocktails.
Excursions
Avalon Waterways actually stands out with its excursions and shore excursions. They’ve damaged down excursions to go well with completely different wants. You possibly can select from Basic, Discovery, or Energetic Tour choices. Every day you are able to do one thing completely different from energetic adventures that embrace kayaking and mountaineering to cultural experiences that take you to historic districts and meals and wine excursions to benefit from the Douro Valley Wines and Ports of Porto.
There’s something for everybody, relying in your mobility and exercise degree. Plus, there’s an onboard journey host that leads yoga within the mornings.
Leisure
Every night after dinner, there’s native leisure. We loved a Fado Present of proficient native guitarists sharing their tradition, tales and music.
The subsequent evening was an excellent quartet of strings placing their very own spin on fashionable rock and pop music.
We additionally loved being serenaded by a finalist from The Voice and had nightly dancing. That is a kind of journeys that brings the native tradition to you.
The Crew
One thing that basically stands out on the Avalon Alegria cruise by means of the Douro Valley is the workers. Your hosts could make or break a visit and the Alegria workers goes above and past. Throughout the second we stepped onboard, they felt like outdated buddies.
At cocktail hour, they knew precisely what sort of cocktail I’d be within the temper for and even created specialties not on the menu.
Dave has a Gluten allergy, and the waitstaff paid cautious consideration to providing him options and informing him of what we may eat and should keep away from.
They had been all the time smiling, and you may inform that they actually loved their jobs. It wasn’t an act; the crew liked what they had been doing. From the fellows grinning from ear to ear as they tied the strains to the entrance desk, answering our each want.
Ports of Name
Don’t fear, you’re inspired to get off the ship and benefit from the native ports of name. Avalon docks downtown or near the city facilities the place a brief (and low-cost) Uber journey can take you to the place you wish to be.
8-Day Itinerary – Vineyards & Villages Alongside the Douro
The cruise begins within the UNESCO World Heritage Metropolis of Porto. We advise arriving early to actually soak on this lovely vacation spot. Avalon provides a guided tour of Braga and Guimaraes, which we extremely advocate seeing. However you also needs to spend at the least two days in Porto to benefit from the Historic Heart, the Gaia District, and the gorgeous waterfront.
The cruise then leaves within the night to cease at completely different areas alongside the Douro Valley. The 8-day itinerary contains these stops after which returns to Porto for one more day of touring. We selected the choice of wine tasting in Gaia with a tour of the Cork Museum, which was fascinating and scrumptious!
Caldas – Day tour of Amarante
Peso da Regua – Maria
oldest farms within the Douro Valley
Pinhao – Douro Valley Vineyards
Poncinho
Barca d’Alva – Salamanca, Spain – That is the place you may add one other nation to your itinerary.
Can Solo Vacationers Be a part of Avalon?
We all the time journey as a pair, however I do know many individuals surprise about solo journey on cruises. Avalon waives the solo complement. On Avalon, you by no means really feel alone. From my observations, a river cruise is a superb possibility for solo vacationers.
Avalon is About Selection
Most individuals select the Danube or Rhine Rivers for his or her first river cruise. We did 10 years in the past, and it turned us off river cruising for a decade. When Avalon invited us to pattern their Douro Valley route, we had been intrigued to offer it one other strive. I’m glad we did. This river cruise was precisely the kind of journey we love—small ships with fewer passengers and loads of choices for shore excursions.
Fewer ships are on the river, and the stops really feel intimate and untouched. With solely 102 passengers on the Avalon selecting from completely different excursions, we had small group excursions that felt tailor-made to our wants.
The Douro Valley is among the most lovely locations to cruise in Europe, with rolling hills and terraced vineyards. It’s really a bucket checklist cruise the place immersing in tradition and experiencing the native delicacies is on the coronary heart of the itinerary.
These are the preferred routes full of different river cruises and crowds at ports of name. I’m not saying to by no means do one, however I believe the Douro Valley is the right introduction to river cruising.
So there you will have it—our Douror Valley River Cruise—the primary European River Cruise we’ve taken in 10 years. Will we do one other one? You wager! As we age, we love the thought of unpacking as soon as and crusing by means of Europe’s most lovely countryside.
While you get to ports, you don’t need to observe the guides; everyone seems to be free to do as they please. Bear in mind, Avalon is about alternative, and our alternative is to return quickly.